[Openstreetmap] EU location rights
Mike Liebhold
mnl at well.com
Thu Sep 22 16:57:12 BST 2005
Hello Openmappers
According to the EU [ see -entire- thread below] it is possible that
users' -may- have rights to their own location coordinates, at no charge
from wireless network operators. Although the regulations cited below
are slightly equivocal it appears, at a minimum, that network operators
are restricted from selling location coordinates -for profit- and may be
required, under national laws to provide the data free of charge.
I may be involved in an upcoming project to help develop spatial
information infrastructure across Africa, so a European precedent is
quite important there too.
I'd b very grateful if someone would forward this note to WSFII and
related lists. Thanks
Cheers-
Mike Liebhold
- a friend of the family-
(I wish I could join you all at the WSFII)
Michael Liebhold wrote:
> Dear Philippe,
>
> I recieved your message this time. I am very grateful for your help in
> clarifying this question.
>
> Quite a few potential community services across Europe will be
> affected by the final determination of Individuals' rights to access
> their own location coordinates at no cost. I shall convey your
> responses to colleagues working on a variety of services, who are
> meeting in London, shortly for a planning meeting.
>
> Many Thanks,
>
> Michael Liebhold
> Senior Researcher
> Institute for the Future
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> *From:* GERARD Philippe (INFSO)
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, September 13, 2005 5:16 PM
>> *To:* 'Michael Liebhold '
>> *Cc:* BANABLE Stephen (INFSO)
>> *Subject:* RE: Location Rights
>>
>> Dear Mr Liebhold,
>>
>> I received your request only recently. Here is a first reply
>> on an informal basis.
>>
>> Article 6 and 9 of the ePrivacy Directive 2002/58/EC (see
>> link in Ruprecht's email, below) concern traffic and
>> location data. Some location data may in fact be traffic data
>> since they are needed for the transmission of the
>> communication and may have to be used for billing or
>> interconnection payments.
>>
>> Location data other than traffic data may be further
>> processed for value added services provided the user or
>> subscriber consents to this. Prior to that, he will have to
>> be informed see the text of Article 9.
>>
>> When it comes to the rights of the user/subscriber to access
>> their own data, the conditions are set in the general data
>> protection rules (see Article 12 of Directive 95/46/EC, at:
>> http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/fsj/privacy/law/index_en.htm).
>> It should be possible 'without excessive delay or expense'.
>> There is no further hamronisation I am afraid, so that
>> national law has to be checked to find out what exact price
>> or expenses have to be paid if any.
>>
>> I hope that this is helpful. Please come bacl to me if you
>> have further questions.
>>
>> My best regards,
>>
>>
>> Philippe GERARD
>>
>> European Commission // Commission européenne/
>> DG Information Society and Media // DG Société de
>> l'Information et Médias/
>> Directorate B - Electronic Communications Policy // Politique
>> des Communications électroniques/
>> Unit B1 - Policy Development // Unité B1 - Conception des
>> politiques/
>>
>> Tel: +32.2.296 86 44
>> Fax: +32.2.296 17 27
>> email: Philippe.GERARD at cec.eu.int
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> *From:* BANABLE Stephen (INFSO)
>> *Sent:* Thursday, September 08, 2005 4:52 PM
>> *To:* 'Michael Liebhold '
>> *Cc:* GERARD Philippe (INFSO); PATYK Magdalena (INFSO)
>> *Subject:* FW: Location Rights
>>
>> Dear Mr. Liebhold,
>>
>> I apologise for the delay in coming back to you on your
>> second question below. I have Asked Mr. Phillippe
>> Gerard who is responsible for these issues to contact you
>> directly.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Stephen Banable
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> *From:* SCHREER Valerie (INFSO)
>> *Sent:* Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:12 AM
>> *To:* BANABLE Stephen (INFSO)
>> *Cc:* GRECO Frank (INFSO); DE RYCK Evelyne (INFSO)
>> *Subject:* FW: Location Rights
>>
>> 28/07/2005 - A/233916
>>
>> Dear Mr Banable,
>>
>> Mr Niepold received the hereunder question while
>> being on holidays. As Mr Greco suggests this is more
>> under your competence, would you be so kind as to
>> answer Mr Liebhold's question.
>>
>> Thank you very much and kind regards,
>>
>> Valérie SCHREER MARTIN
>> _______________________________________
>> Secretary to Mr R. Niepold
>> DG Infso B4
>> Radio Spectrum Policy
>> Tel. 68643 - Fax 68395
>> ________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> *From:* Michael Liebhold [mailto:mliebhold at iftf.org]
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 27, 2005 7:42 PM
>> *To:* NIEPOLD Ruprecht (INFSO)
>> *Subject:* Re: Location Rights
>>
>> Hello Ruprecht,
>>
>> Thanks for your prompt and helpful reply. I'm
>> sorry I missed the first message while
>> travelling. Do you and your colleagues
>> understand to these rules to mean that operators
>> may -profit- providing location coordinates to
>> users or whether they are obliged to provide
>> location on a -cost recovery- basis? And if cost
>> recovery is specified, what burden may passed to
>> users if capture of locations is mandatory for
>> network operators? Or, are these subleties that
>> will be resolved later on?
>>
>> Many thanks again,
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Ruprecht.Niepold at cec.eu.int wrote:
>>
>>> 27/7/05
>>>
>>> Dear Michael,
>>>
>>> thanks for your message. I fact, I sent you an
>>> e-mail on 30 June 2005, see below, but it
>>> obviously did not reach you.
>>>
>>> I hope that my indications respond to your
>>> questions.
>>>
>>> *** Ruprecht Niepold
>>>
>>> Head of Unit
>>> DG INFSO B4: Radio Spectrum Policy
>>> Office: BU33 7/5
>>> Address: 200, Rue de la Loi, B-1049 Bruxelles ,
>>> Belgium
>>> Tel: +32 2 29 68955
>>> Fax: +32 2 2968395
>>> e-mail: Ruprecht.Niepold at cec.eu.int
>>> <mailto:Ruprecht.Niepold at cec.eu.int>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ___________________
>>>
>>>
>>> 30/6/05
>>>
>>> Dear Mr. Liebhold,
>>>
>>> It was nice to exchange with you en marge of the
>>> Telecoms Transition Conference in Lisbon and to
>>> learn about geospatial web.
>>>
>>> You asked me a question on the situation in
>>> Europe concerning location data held by
>>> operators. Here are some clarifications:
>>>
>>> - from the privacy point of view: I confirm that
>>> an operator must not use location data without
>>> consent of the mobile user (except for limited
>>> cases such as emergency etc.). This is enshrined
>>> in the European Privacy and Electronic
>>> Communication Directive, see details under:
>>> _http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/ecomm/all_about/todays_framework/privacy_protection/index_en.htm_
>>>
>>> - My colleague expert in this piece on
>>> legislation told me further (on the basis of an
>>> explanation, not a formal legal interpretation
>>> of the texts applicable): On request, an
>>> operator must indicate to a mobile user what
>>> personal data he holds. Therefore, if solicited,
>>> the operator would have to notify the user that
>>> he holds location data. The mobile user can then
>>> claim to have access to these data, however the
>>> operator would be entitled to charge for this if
>>> he wished to do so.
>>>
>>> Hope this clarifies the situation
>>>
>>> *** Ruprecht Niepold
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> *From:* Michael Liebhold
>>> [mailto:mliebhold at iftf.org]
>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 27, 2005 7:43 AM
>>> *To:* NIEPOLD Ruprecht (INFSO)
>>> *Subject:* Location Rights
>>>
>>> Ruprecht Niepold
>>> Head of Unit
>>> Radio Spectrum Policy
>>> European Commission
>>> Information Society and Media Directorate
>>> General
>>>
>>> Hello Ruprecht,
>>>
>>> We met briefly at the Telcoms conference in
>>> Lisbon a few weeks ago. I'm the researcher
>>> from the Institute for the Future working
>>> on grass roots location services and the
>>> geospatial web.
>>>
>>> In passing, I thought I heard you mention
>>> that perhaps mobile network operators may
>>> not be legally entitled to sell, or use
>>> themselves, a user's location coordinates
>>> for commercial service offerings, without a
>>> users explicit permission. Also, you may
>>> recall, that I asked you if carriers are
>>> able to determine users coordinates, then do
>>> users have a legal right to know their own
>>> location coordinates?
>>>
>>> When I asked, You said that you would
>>> clarify this when you returned to your
>>> office. I would be very grateful if you
>>> could help shed some light on this issue.
>>> This is a fundamental platform component for
>>> a great number of potentially innovative and
>>> useful applications.
>>>
>>> Many Thanks, in advance, for your kind
>>> assistance.
>>>
>>> Michael Liebhold
>>> Senior Researcher, Geospatial Web
>>> The Institute for the Future
>>>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/attachments/20050922/78e2cfd3/attachment.html>
More information about the talk
mailing list